A Broken Promise
by SammySalvatoreHarkness2
Summary: When she was 5, she agreed to never return to the Labyrinth. 14 years later, Jareth- King of the Goblins- sees her again. And he keeps her this time. But how will he and Sam get along?
1. Introduction

**I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING INVOLVING THE LABYRINTH! THE ONLY THING I CLAIM AS MINE IS MY ORIGINAL CHARACTER- SAM- WHO IS MODIFIED A LITTLE FOR EACH FANFICTION FOR WHAT BEST FITS WITH THE STORYLINE!**

 **LABYRINTH**

 **INTRODUCTION**

Two little girls wandered the strange labyrinth together, unsure of where to turn next. One girl had long, red hair, green eyes and was seven years old, the other had short, brown hair, hazel eyes, and was only five. The older girl was named Marie and is the reason they were in the whole mess. Her older cousin had read her a book called _The Labyrinth_ , and Marie had loved it. What she hadn't realized was that it wasn't a fictional story. It was instead a story about an actual realm that existed outside the one we all know; a realm full of goblins and other strange creatures all ruled over by one man- a king named Jareth. He was rather frightening in Marie's opinion. The younger girl was Marie's best friend who lived two doors down- Sam.

Sam had been over for a slumber party when Marie's younger sister ran in and broke a new toy Marie had JUST gotten while she and Sam were playing with it. Furious at her little sister for always breaking her toys, Marie said the words she had recently heard from her cousin's book.

"I WISH THE GOBLINS WOULD COME TAKE YOU AWAY RIGHT NOW!" Marie shouted as she pushed her sister from the room, unaware of what was about to happen.

Marie didn't realize that by saying those words, a very real man with very real goblins had been invited to take the younger sister and the man NEVER passed up the opportunity to take a child to add to his legion of goblins. Marie also hadn't realized that the only way to get her sister back, was to solve the man's labyrinth. She was positive it was all just a made-up story.

Sam, on the other hand, believed in magic and goblins and the sort. She had also heard the tale of _The Labyrinth_ , though her babysitter had told her the story, not Marie's cousin. Sam believed that the Goblin King did exist, and WOULD take a child if it was wished away. So, when Marie shouted the words that would invite the man to take the younger sister, Sam gasped.

"Why would you say that?!" Sam asked. "Now the Goblin King will take her away and you'll have to solve his labyrinth to get her back!"

"That's not true, Sam," Marie said. "It's all make believe."

"It is not! You're gonna wish you hadn't made that wish!"

"Sam, it's just a- "

Marie was cut off as a loud crash of thunder roared through the sky and her window flew open. The girls screamed and ducked as a barn owl flew through the window towards them. When they looked up, a man stood by the window.

He was tall, his hair was blonde and was short and spiky on top but the bottom layers were long and fell just past is shoulders. He wore a black shirt with a black armor chest plate that had a few gold embellishments, tight black pant, black riding boots that went up to just below his knees, and a cape that was black but the inside was a bluish purple. Sam recognized him from a drawing in her babysitter's book. He smirked slightly at the two young girls.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" He asked the girls, his voice sounded British and was low. "It's not every day people so young wish away their siblings and have to endure my labyrinth."

Sam looked at Marie.

"Told you that he was real and you shouldn't have said those words!" Sam said.

"It was some stupid story my cousin told me, how was I supposed to know it wasn't made up?!"

"So, one of you believes in magic and the other- who's not much older- doesn't," The man stated. "And yet the one who doesn't believe is the one who wished away their sibling. This is a rather interesting turn of events."

"Give me my sister back," Marie said. "My parents will ground me forever if they find out I wished her away and it came true."

"I'm sorry, Marie, but that's not how it works. You wished her away, I simply did what I was asked to do. But look at what I'm offering you." He holds a crystal ball up so Marie can see it. "Your dreams. No more broken toys or having to share a room with your sister. Everything to yourself like it was before she was born."

"I can't. My parents will ground me FOREVER if she stays with you."

"Then you'll have to solve the labyrinth and get to my castle to save her. Since you're so young, I will allow your friend to join you and help you find your way, but you only get 13 hours to try and get to the castle- just like everyone else who comes here to save a brother or sister. I can't make an exception to that rule.

Also, if you don't make it to the castle in time, your brother becomes one of us forever. Such a pity."

Suddenly, the man vanished. Sam and Marie noticed that they weren't in Marie's room anymore, but rather they were standing on a hill just a few yards from a HUGE maze.

The girls looked at each other.

"We better get started," Sam said as she stared to walk towards the labyrinth. "We only have 13 hours and we're little so it'll take us longer than it would a grown up."

"So was that really…?" Marie asked, following Sam down the hill.

"Jareth, the Goblin King," Sam said with a nod. "And he's taller than I thought he'd be. Makes him look scarier."

"Where's the entrance to this stupid thing?"

"Did you not pay attention to the story? We have to ask the person named Hoggle."


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Sam lead Marie down to the wall that marked the outer edges of the labyrinth and looked around for the goblin known as Hoggle. When they found him, he seemed to be gassing what looked like fairies or something. They cautiously approached the creature.

"Um, excuse us," Sam said. "Are you Hoggle?"

"So, I am," the creature says. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sam and this is my friend Marie."

"That's what I thought. Little young to be going through the labyrinth."

"Well, that's Marie's fault, not mine. Hoggle, how do we get into the labyrinth?"

"You get in through there," Hoggle point to a set of large doors that opened as he spoke. "It's a rather large labyrinth, and it's very tricky, it can be scary at times. Are you sure you two can handle it?"

"Well, one of us can," Sam said. "The other still thinks she's having some bad nightmare."

Sam smiled at Hoggle and dragged Marie through the doors into the labyrinth with her. The doors disappeared once they were inside.

"Which way do we go?" Marie asked. "Left, or right?"

"Let's go… Right," Sam says and then she and Marie take off running.

Suddenly, Sam tripped over a branch when she couldn't jump over it fast enough and Marie decided to take this moment for them to both catch their breath. It seemed like they had been running forever, having found no place for them to make a turn and feeling as though they had been running forever.

"This stupid path goes on forever!" Marie shouted. "We're getting nowhere!"

"Eventually, we'll find somewhere to turn," Sam said. "We're just not looking hard enough."

"No, we won't. I'm about ready to give up."

"You can't talk like that. If you give up, he wins and your parents will ground you for wishing your sister away, remember?"

"Oh, I guess you're right," Marie sighs.

"'Ello," the girls suddenly hear a voice say.

They both turn and see a blue worm wearing a red scarf.

"D-did you just speak?" Sam asked the worm.

"Yeah, I did," The worm nodded. "You girls ain't lookin' hard enough if you can't find anywhere to turn. Sometimes things ain't what they seem."

"What do you mean?" Marie asks.

"There's a turn right there in front of you," The worm said, nodding to the wall in front of the girls. "Go ahead, try it out."

Marie and Sam looked at each other before Marie got up and slowly approached the wall across from where they had stopped. She was amazed when she didn't walk into a wall, but instead looked to her left and right and found it was a new section of the maze.

"Sam, he's right!" Marie shouted.

"Thank you, Mr. Worm!" Sam shouted as she stood up and ran to catch up with Marie.

The girls walked to their left and the worm shouted at them.

"Don't go that way!" The worm said.

Sam walked back and looked at the worm.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Don't ever go down that way!"

"See, you telling me that, proves that we should go that way," Sam says with a smile before waving at the worm and walking back to Marie.

 **Meanwhile in the Castle**

Jareth frowns slightly when he sees that Sam and Marie don't listen to the worm and go the other way. He'll have to throw a couple of obstacles at them to delay their arrival.

Smirking slightly, Jareth makes the door twins appear to the left of the girls, sitting back to watch the confusion as they try to figure out which door to go through.

"We'll see how they get themselves here on time after being lead back to the beginning from the oubliette," He chuckles as he observes the girls choose a door and fall into a dark hole that appears on the ground.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

"Ouch," Sam says as she lands on her butt next to Marie at the bottom of the hole they fell into.

"Where are we?" Marie asked.

"I don't know, it's too dark to see anything."

"You're in an oubliette," They heard a familiar voice say.

"Hoggle?" Sam asked as suddenly a candle was lit and the room was bathed in light.

"That's my name," Hoggle said. "Don't wear it out."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you girls out of the oubliette and out of the labyrinth."

"No!" Marie shouted. "We've come so far! We can't go back now! We can't start over, then our time will be out before we get to the castle!"

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Hoggle looked at Marie.

"What if we make a trade? My sliver bracelet for your help getting as far into the labyrinth as possible?" Marie held the bracelet up for Hoggle to see.

"Hmmmmm," Hoggle thinks before nodding. "Deal. I'll get you as far as I can in return for the bracelet."

Marie handed Hoggle the bracelet and he used a flat rock to make a door in the wall of the oubliette for the three of them to exit through.

Suddenly they were surrounded by large, stone faces that were telling them to turn back before it was too late and that danger was imminent if they continued the path they were headed down.

"Pay no mind to them." Hoggle said. "They only say that when you're heading the right way."

"We do not!" One face said.

"Shut up," Hoggle responded.

Sam noticed a crystal ball rolling up from behind them.

"Uh, Hoggle," She said, pointing at the crystal.

"Oh, no," Hoggle said.

The trio watched as the ball turned the corner just before them and it bounced into the cup of what looked like some kind of blind beggar bird.

"Well, well," The 'bird' said in a rough voice. "What do we have here?"

"O-oh, uh, n-nothing," Hoggle stuttered.

"Nothing?" The 'bird's' voice changed as he continued speaking, changing to Jareth's voice as the man stood up straight and removed his disguise. "Nothing? Nothing?! Nothing- tra-la-la?!"

'O-oh, your majesty," Hoggle cowers a little.

"I'll deal with you later, Hedgewart," Jareth growls.

"Hoggle…" the dwarf corrects quietly.

Jareth glares at Hoggle and turns his attention to the girls.

"Well, Marie, how are you enjoying my labyrinth?" He asked the older girl.

"It's easy," Marie lied, not wanting him to see her as weak.

"In that case, I won't feel bad about taking your friend from you as punishment for cheating and bribing Higgle to help you." Jareth glares at Hoggle who tries to correct him again as Sam disappears. "Now you have to save her and your sister. Such a pity."

"No!" Marie cried. "Give her back!"

"No. And if you find my labyrinth so easy, let's make it harder." Jareth point to a clock and took time away from what Marie had left.

"That's not fair!"

"Cheaters never prosper, Marie. This is what you get for cheating. Also," Jareth produces a crystal and throws it down the hall before he disappears.

 **Back at Jareth's Castle**

Jareth sat in his throne staring into a crystal ball. He had trapped Sam inside this one when he took her from Marie for cheating. He wasn't quite sure what to do with her; no one had wished her away so he wasn't exactly allowed to turn her into a goblin. However, he wasn't one to raise children- hence they were all turned into goblins when whoever wished them away failed to save them.

"What will I do with you, precious thing?" He asked as he watched her sit in the center of the crystal and stare out at him.

He glanced at the clock and saw that Marie only had two hours left.

"Let's see how far your friend has gotten since we last saw her," He produced a second crystal and watched at Marie tried to figure out what door to knock on. She was alone so Hoggle must have turned back to return to his home.

Jareth smirks, he'd win this time. Marie's little sister will be a goblin, but what will happen to Sam?


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Jareth laughs as Marie makes it to the gates of the goblin city as the clock chimes that her time is up. In a blink, Marie is standing in front of Jareth, looking up at him with terrified eyes.

"Such a shame, Marie," Jareth said. "You've lost your little sister and your best friend all in one day."

"What?!" Marie shouted. "No! It can't be over! I still had more time!"

"Unfortunately, you didn't. Your time ran out. Your sister is now a goblin and I'm still trying to figure out to do with your dear friend."

"Give them back!"

"I can't. Rules are rules, Marie. You didn't make it to the castle in time, you lose. They are mine."

"But I only wished away my sister!"

"And then you cheated. As punishment, I took Sam and told you that you now had to make it here on time to save your sister and Sam. You failed to get here on time so they're both mine. I'm sorry, but you lose. Goodbye, Marie."

As Marie shouted no, she appeared back in her room at home.

Then Jareth turned her sister into a goblin and had the others take her away for now. He then looked at the crystal he had Sam in. He smirked and let the girl out, looking down at her.

"Now, you precious thing, what shall we do with you?" Jareth asked.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Marie lost. Her little sister is now a goblin and you're mine as well. You weren't wished away, so I can't turn you into a goblin. But what I can do is have the goblins raise you to be my queen when you get older."

Sam makes a disgusted face, after all, she's only five and Jareth appears to be a full-grown man.

"Please," Sam begged. "Let me go home. I'll NEVER come back here and if I ever wish anyone away, you can just have them. I won't try to get them back, I promise."

Jareth looks at the girl as he contemplates her words. It would be easier just to send her home instead of having her live there in the castle. He didn't want to deal with having a child around all the time, especially as she grew older and hit puberty. He's heard stories of girls from neighboring kingdoms that were nightmares from the age of 13 until they were between 18 and 20 years old. If he sent her home and she broke her promise and came back, he could always force her to stay with him then and hopefully she'd be grown up by that time.

"Alright," Jareth said. "I'll be nice and let you go home. But, if you break this promise you're making and you return to my labyrinth, I will keep you here forever and you will have to be my queen."

Sam bites her lip and nods a little.

"Okay," She says quietly.

"Goodbye, precious thing. I won't forget your promise."

Jareth smiles as he speaks, his voice fading a bit with each word as Sam is suddenly in Marie's room again.

"SAM!" Marie shouts as she hugs her friend, she had been crying over the loss of her sister and best friend, she just didn't remember her sister.

Sam remembered Marie's sister. Sam never forgot, even after her family moved to New York and she never saw Marie again. She also never forgot her promise to Jareth, so she was careful to never wish anyone away since she wouldn't be allowed to get them back.

Until one day when she was 19…


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

 **In Jareth's kingdom**

Over the years, Jareth watched Sam through his crystals and on occasional stormy nights when he ventured to her world as a barn owl. He wanted to ensure she kept her promise.

To his surprise, no matter how angry she got with a child- be it a cousin, neighbor, or a child at the home she volunteered at in high school- she never wished them away to him. She would say "I want to wish you away so badly, but I can't because I made a promise I'd never get anyone I wished away back and I don't intend to break that promise." And then she'd move on to her next task for the day.

Jareth was impressed by her determination to keep her promise and never return to the labyrinth.

Until one day, when she was dragged to his labyrinth by a new friend…

 **Sam's dorm room at Yale University**

Sam sighs as she listens to her roommate argue with her little brother. They had been at it since her roommate's parents went out to get the girls some groceries that they needed; fighting over whether they're going to watch Disney channel or Discovery channel.

Sam had read _The Labyrinth_ to her roommate the night before and she felt like she was about regret that decision. She figured her roommate didn't believe in magic and didn't believe that the words would cause anything to happen, but Sam knew better. She knew that the goblins would take the little boy and her roommate would have to solve the labyrinth to get him back and Sam wasn't allowed to help get him back because of a promise that she had made 14 years before hand to the goblin king himself.

"I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now!" Her roommate shouted.

"You just HAD to say that, didn't you?" Sam asked her roommate.

"What?"

That's when the boy disappeared and Jareth appeared near the window, wearing the same thing he had been the first-time Sam had met him. He looked the same as he had all those years before, like he hadn't aged at all or changed his hair style. Sam was now old enough to think he was rather attractive.

Jareth smirks when he sees Sam and carefully thinks about his next move. Right about that moment was when Sam's roommate shouted at him.

"Who are you?" Her roommate said. "And where's my little brother?!"

"Perhaps you would like to explain it to her, Sam," Jareth smiles at her.

"Remember that book I read to you last night?" Sam asked her roommate, who nodded. "I'm regretting that decision. Magic is real. You wished you brother away. This guy is Jareth, the goblin king. Your brother is now at his castle with the goblins, waiting for you to either succeed or fail at saving him."

"How do you know all this?" Her roommate asked.

"I had a friend when I was a kid who wished away her sister. She cheated, he took my help from her, she lost, her sister is a goblin and I'm not allowed to return to the labyrinth."

"I'll go ahead and allow you to help this one time, Sam." Jareth said. "But just this once."

"That's awfully generous, what's the catch?"

"No catch, I simply am in a good mood and am willing to allow it."

Sam's roommate latched onto her arm.

"Please, help me, Sam," She begged. "You're so much smarter than me, I won't stand a chance without you."

Sam sighed before she spoke, "Fine, but ONLY because I don't want to live with the guilt of having not tried to help when I could."

"Thank you!" Her roommate hugs her.

Jareth tells the girls they have 13 hours, then he disappears. Sam drags her roommate down to the outer edge of the labyrinth to find a certain dwarf.

"Hey, Hoggle," Sam said with a sigh.

"Uh?" Hoggle turned to look at Sam. "Oh, it's you again. Who's this other girl?"

"My idiot roommate who wished her little brother away. Entrance to the labyrinth in the same spot as last time?"

"Yeah, it's always in the same spot. It's right over there."

Hoggle pointed to the door and Sam muttered a thank you as she dragged her roommate to the door.

 **Jareth's Castle**

Jareth watched the girls entered his labyrinth from his throne and hummed to himself quietly. If this girl cheated, then he would take back his kind gesture of letting Sam help her and keep Sam in the Underground for having broken her promise by returning to the Labyrinth. That gave Sam a 50/50 chance of getting home without a problem when the 13 hours are up.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

 **Somewhere in the Labyrinth**

Sam rolled her eyes as her roommate once again whined.

"We're getting NO WHERE!" Her roommate shouted. "I'm sick of this!"

"We're getting further than you think, we're just not getting there very fast." Sam said. "Because you stop every two minutes TO WASTE TIME BY WHINING!"

"I'm not wasting time!"

"We got thirteen hours to solve the labyrinth. I wish I had a clock that told me how much time you've spent whining so far."

Just then, two clocks appeared; one that showed the girls how much time they had left and one that told them that Sam's roommate had spent an hour and a half out of the last two hours just standing there complaining about how hard it was to solve the labyrinth.

"I ask, he delivers," Sam said. "See, you've wasted time whining. Now shut up and actually try to get your brother back."

"Ugh, fine!" Her roommate shouted as she stood up and started walking the direction they had come from.

"We came from over there, try again," Sam sighed as her roommate groaned and turned around. Sam rolls her eyes again and follows her.

 **Jareth's Castle**

"That's it, girls," Jareth said as he watched them from the window of his castle. "Just a little further and you'll be exactly where I want you. Starting all over thanks to the drawf. Such a pity, isn't it?"

He laughs as he continues to watch them.

 **An Oubliette (Dang it, Jareth!)**

"Where are we?!" Sam's roommate shouted.

"A deep, dark whole Jareth put us in to make you ask questions!" Sam said. "He accomplished his mission, you asked questions! Give it a minute, Hoggle will come let us out."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm right here," Hoggle said as he lit the candle. "And I'm here to take you back to the beginning."

"What?! But we've come so far! That's not fair!" Her roommate whined.

"Life's not fair! And if you intend to become an independent adult, I suggest you get used to the idea," Sam said.

"You can't take us back to the beginning! Please! I'll give you anything to get you to take us as far in as you can! Even my grandmother's necklace that she left me when she died!"

"Think about what you're doing. Jareth doesn't like cheaters and what you're doing right now is cheating. Hoggle will get yelled at, you'll get in trouble, I could get in trouble."

"I can't just let him win, Sam. My parents will hate me if I don't get my brother back."

"I'll take the necklace and take you as far as I can," Hoggle said.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Sam sighed as they followed Hoggle out.


End file.
